Arcade Fire grew too fast. Their first album, Funeral, was filled with childish wonderment and innocence. They burst onto the scene and quickly found themselves selling out larger and larger venues behind critical praise. You know your rise is meteoric when another band feels the need to write a song about how the hype is beginning to get out of hand (see "This is the Dream of Win and Regine" by Final Fantasy).
Their second album, Neon Bible, was nearly the antithesis of Funeral. Apocalyptic and brooding, it seemed as if the perils of fame and (at least probably seen by them) fake praise had taken its toll. Metaphorically it was as if Win, Regine, Will, et all had skipped their adolescence and early twenties and gone straight to the crushing perils of adulthood.
Now we have the album to fill this gap. The Suburbs, although musically subdued and constrained, is filled with longing and raw emotion. The feeling of being locked in an imaginary prison, all the while wanting to escape, is prevalent throughout.
This review will be slightly different than most. The Suburbs is clearly a very lyrical album. Beyond just rating the songs, I will post my favorite lyrics from each song.
Oh, and no stream links. Go buy an album for once assholes.
Listened to on vinyl, then mp3.
Track 1: The Suburbs
Right off the bat, we get a song about feeling stuck in the suburbs. Win (Butler, lead singer) dreams about the walls crumbling down, and being able to be free. Instead of wanting this to happen as he might have on Neon Bible, it makes him feel like maybe he is running out of time.
"So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I'm still young
I wanna hold her hand
And show her some beauty
Before this damage is done
But if it's too much to ask, it's too much to ask
Then send me a son"
9/10
Track 2: Ready To Start
Probably the closest to a simple meaning song. Dealing with loss of love and loss of self. Scared that his choices has compromised his vision ("If the businessmen drink my blood
Like the kids in art school said they would..."), The narrator broods alone by himself. The lyrics also touch on losing love and how it affects not only you, but the world around you. Also one of the better instrumental songs on the album.
"Now you're knocking at my door
Saying please come out with us tonight
But I would rather be alone
Than pretend I feel alright"
10/10
Track 3: Modern Man
Modern Man is a little too preachy for my tastes. The whole song deals with the perils of becoming an adult, how it makes you feel like just another part in a machine instead of an individual.
"And you feel so right
But how come you can't sleep at night?
In line for a number but you don't understand
Like a modern man"
8/10
Track 4: Rococo
One of the weaker lyrical songs on the album. It feels like a sequel to Modern Man, in which the adult is coming into contact with younger people, and finds he does not understand them anymore.
"They build it up just to burn it back down
The wind is blowing all the ashes around"
7/10
Track 5: Empty Room
Admission time: I have always favored Regine(Chassagne, female vocalist)'s songs over most of Win's overly preachy work (Haiti being my favorite Arcade Fire song). There is something about her voice. Even when she is singing about something depressing, you can feel this hidden level of hope. Empty Room is certainly a sad song. Kin to Ready To Start, it deals with loss and how people react to it.
"Toute ma vie, est avec toi"
8/10
Track 6: City With No Children
Seems like Win's narrator might finally be giving in. He's realizing that he can't go back to the world of his childhood and teenage years. He sees it as a prison, but therein lies the problem; it does not matter whether he likes it or not, he is locked into his fate.
"You never trust a millionaire quoting the sermon on the mount
I used to think I was not like them but I'm beginning to have my doubts
My doubts about it"
8/10
Track 7 & 8: Half Light I & Half Light II (No Celebration)
Half Light I is very reminiscent of Funeral. Accompanied by a beautiful string arrangement, Win and Regine sing together about being free in the night. Part 2 keeps the strings, but ads a slight new wave beat that insists that the songs are different. Although the hope is still alive at the beginning of the song, Win's narrator is alone again by the end. I'm starting to believe this guy is never going to win.
Part 1:
"Strange how the half light
Can make a place new
You can't recognize me
And I can't recognize you"
Part 2:
"Though we knew this day would come,
Still it took us by surprise.
In this town where I was born,
I now see through a dead man's eyes."
for both songs: 19/20
Track 9: Suburban War
The song begins as a slow burning rock song. The narrator reminiscences about someone he cared (and possibly still cares) about, and how he still looks for them ("Now the cities we live in
could be distant stars, And I search for you in every passing car"). The burning finally turns to a flame midway through the song. The second half becomes angrier, frustrating to a point. The narrator's longing has become bitterness as he loses track of who he is and what he stands for.
"You started a war
That you can't win
They keep erasing all the streets we grew up in
Now the music divides
Us into tribes
You choose your side I'll choose my side"
10/10
Track 10: Month of May
The most fast paced and violent song on the album. It took me some time to really fall in love with this song. The restraint that the rest of the album gives up to this point is lost on Month of May, and it becomes a welcome change of pace. Songs about indie kids always having their arms folded are fun as well (see: Doing the Standing Still by The Dismemberment Plan).
"So young, so young
So much pain for someone so young, well
I know it's heavy, I know it ain't light
But how you gonna lift it with your arms folded tight?"
10/10
Track 11: Wasted Hours
A breezy summer song. Although no bad, just feels boring coming right after Month of May. You can't make a 16 song album without it lulling at some point.
"Some cities make you lose your head
Endless suburbs stretched out thin and dead
And what was that line you said
Wishing you were anywhere but here
You watch the life you're living disappear
And now I see
We're still kids in buses longing to be free"
7/10
Track 12: Deep Blue
Meh. Repeat the last sentence from track 11
"Hey
Put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey
Put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me"
6/10
Track 13: We Used To Wait
...And were back. The narrator has finally becomes numb. All the things he used to do he has forgotten.But by the end of the song he has worked himself into a frenzy. He is alive again.
"We used to wait for it
We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming "sing the chorus again!"
9/10
Track 14 & 15: The Sprawl I (Flatland) & Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
The Sprawl I is operatic in spirit. It acts more of an intro to Sprawl II. The newly revived narrator heads back into the suburbs (now the sprawl) and finds that it has only made him feel lonelier than he was before. The Sprawl II brings back our voice of hope (a.k.a. Regine). Sprawl II is by far the best song on this album. The whole album feels like it has been building up to this point. These two songs also reinforce the point that The Suburbs is a fully fleshed out album. Even though Sprawl II is probably the best song, this album is only as strong as the sum of its parts.
Track 14:
'Took a drive into the sprawl
To find the places we used to play
It was the loneliest day of my life
You're talking at me but I'm still far away'
Track 15:
"They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days my life, I feel it has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface
'Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, come and find your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the World's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl"
For both songs: 20/20
Track 16: The Suburbs (Continued)
Full Circle! A fitting end to the album. I'll leave my finals thoughts here: An at turns beautiful, depressing album, that probably would have been better with 12 songs instead of 16. Needs to be listened to in full to be truly appreciated.
"If I could have it back
All the time that we wasted
I'd only waste it again"
9/10
Cohesiveness Score: 20/10 (if only) -10/10
Total: 150/170
Final Score: 8.8
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